courtside
dark comedy
Written and Performed by Candice BERNSTEIN | Directed by Jenny STEAD | Lights and sound design by Andi COLOMBO | Mentorship by Jennifer STEYN
13+ Language
In the midst of wrapping her head around first-time motherhood and the loss of her beloved grandfather, father and uncle, Candice produced and performed her first one-woman show earthside. But what was happening behind the scenes was even more dramatic than everything that came before.
CREATIVE TEAM
CANDICE BERNSTEIN - Writer and Performer
Candice Bernstein (writer/performer) is a South African actress, voiceover artist and theatre producer. She is a graduate of William H. Macy and David Mamet’s Atlantic Theatre Company’s Acting Conservatory. Select stage credits include earthside directed by Jennifer Steyn (Theatre Arts, Drama Factory, Red Hill Arts Festival), Never Sleep Alone (Joe’s Pub, NYC); Gruesome Playground Injuries directed by Tara Notcutt (Alexander Bar); and Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues directed by Marlisa Doubell.
She also founded Sarafina Magazine: an online publication celebrating South African women in the arts, which operated from 2016 to 2021.
JENNY STEAD - Director
In courtside, Jenny Stead makes her professional directorial debut, returning to a passion she first explored while completing her Honours degree, where she was nominated for Best Director at Stellenbosch University. With a prolific and award winning career spent on the other side of the rehearsal room, Jenny is tentative to call herself a director, but feels incredibly honoured to have the opportunity to help nurture this special piece. Having had the privilege of working on debut productions with extraordinary writers like Fiona Coyne (Glass Roots), Reza de Wet (Breathing In), Damon Galgut (The Promise), David Kramer (Ver in die Wêreld Kittie), Louis Viljoen (Champ/Mrs Mitchell Comes To Town) and Brent Palmer (The Visit), she has witnessed, first-hand, as they shaped and moulded new work in the rehearsal room. Jenny has learned so much from working with some of the country's most brilliant directors, Stephen Stead, Sylvaine Strike, Fred Abrahamse, Marthinus Basson, Chris Weare, Roy Sargent, amongst others, which with absolute gratitude, makes this feels like a very natural progression. Nonetheless Jenny is particularly grateful to Candice for trusting her to bring this deeply personal story to the stage — a work that is at once heartbreaking and intimate but also manages to make you laugh.